Tag Archives: User tips

Google+ Stories and Movies: memories made easier

(Cross-posted on the Google Official Blog)

A suitcase full of dirty clothes. A sad-looking house plant. And 437 photos and videos on your phone, tablet and camera. This is the typically messy scene after a vacation. And although we can’t do your laundry (thanks but no thanks), or run your errands (well, maybe a few), we’d still like to help. Enter Google+ Stories, which can automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue.

No more sifting through photos for your best shots, racking your brain for the sights you saw, or letting your videos collect virtual dust. We’ll just gift you a story after you get home. This way you can relive your favorite moments, share them with others, and remember why you traveled in the first place. 

Stories will be available this week on Android and the web, with iOS coming soon. In the meantime you can browse my story below (click to start), or explore a few others by paraglider Tom de Dorlodot, and DJ Steve Aoki.
When it’s less about travel, and more about today's events (like a birthday party, or baby’s first steps), Google+ Movies can produce a highlight reel of your photos and videos automatically—including effects, transitions and a soundtrack. Today we’re bringing Movies to Android, iOS and the web, so lots more people will receive these video vignettes.
A movie of my daughter’s first bike ride, created automatically by Google+

To get started with Stories and Movies, simply back up your photos and videos to Google+. And that’s it. Auto Awesome will get to work in the background, and you’ll get notified when a story or movie is ready.

In fact: if your photo library is already online, you may already have stories waiting for you. So look for the new app in Google Play, view the full list of improvements on Google+, and enjoy your walks down memory lane.

Posted by +Anil Sabharwal, Director of Product Management

Source: Google Travel


Ok Google. Find me a hotel…

It’s U.S. National Travel & Tourism week -- whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, you can plan it all from your mobile phone.

Let’s say you’re on a business trip in Miami and you decide to stay through the weekend to head down to Key West. You can say “Ok Google, show me tourist attractions in Key West”. Quickly you see there are a ton of fun things to do near Key West: you can visit the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, take a tour of Ernest Hemingway’s house and relax with a Margarita on the sunny beaches!

Now you need to find a hotel. Just ask your phone again, “Ok Google, show me hotels with a view in Key West.” You’ll find several nice options and you can tap on one to see more details about the hotel, including photos and reviews. You can easily scroll through the photos to get a better feel for what the hotels look like.

You can also tap on “See inside” to take a 360° tour of the hotel and property with Google Maps Business View. Just a few taps later and you’re booked at the Southernmost on the Beach Hotel.


You can also check business hours for the attractions you want to visit, get directions from your hotel (whether you’re walking or driving) and figure out which restaurants to hit up while you’re there -- even filtered by type of cuisine. Ask your phone “Ok Google, show me seafood restaurants in Key West.” If you further filter by ratings, you’ll see our hotel has a highly rated, surfside dining spot. You can also use the “See inside” 360° tour to see the awesome view from the cafe.


We hope our tips for using your phone to figure out where to go, what to do and where to stay will help you plan an amazing vacation. Try saying ‘Ok Google…” and start planning your next trip today.

Posted by Lin Classon, Product Marketing Manager, Travel

Source: Google Travel


Google expands Flight Search in Ireland and Poland

Whether you live in Ireland or Poland -- Flight Search on Google makes planning your trips fast and easy. You can now access google.ie/flights and google.pl/flights, or search for flights directly within Google to quickly find, compare and book flights -- and see prices in your local currency and language.

Let’s say you live in Dublin and you’d like to visit Nice, but you’re unsure of the least expensive time to travel. When you click on the departure date field, a calendar pops up with the lowest fare highlighted for each day. You’ll also see the lowest fares graph below the calendar that shows how prices may fluctuate based on the season, holidays or other events. Scrolling through a couple of months you can quickly see that May is a great time to fly.


Once you select your departure and return dates, you’ll be presented with a list of ‘Best flights’; these represent the best tradeoff of convenience and price. You can always view other flights that might be longer or more expensive by scrolling through the summary list or selecting, 'Show all'.
The Ryanair flight at €52 looks perfect. It’s nonstop, short and inexpensive. You can select your return flight, confirm the number of passengers and simply click on the red book button to complete your purchase on Ryanair’s website.


Our goal is to provide you with fast results as you explore where you want to go, figure out the best time to travel, browse a simple list of the most relevant flights and book your trip. We hope you’ll enjoy planning your next trip with Flight Search!

Posted by David Olliges, Product Manager

Source: Google Travel


Easily find hotels by travel time with Hotel Finder

If you’re visiting an unfamiliar city or just want to stay near a specific landmark or location, Hotel Finder can help. Use the search by travel time filter to quickly narrow your options and find the closest hotel -- whether you’re traveling by car, public transit or walking.

Lets say you’ve always wanted to visit the famed fictional detective Sherlock Holmes’ home in London but you’re not really sure which hotels are nearby. Start by going to www.google.com/hotels. Enter “Sherlock Holmes Museum, London” and select your dates. In the top left corner of the map, click “Show hotels 15 minutes from...” to filter by travel time. Select 10 minutes by public transit. In less time than it takes to read these instructions, you’ve just narrowed your search from 2000+ choices to less than 200.


If you want to narrow your options further, you can sort by travel time and only hotels with a 4.0+ user rating. Elementary my dear Watson! You’ve further refined your choices to only 33, making it much easier to plan your trip!


We’re very excited about the planning power this gives you, and we hope Hotel Finder makes planning your next trip a little more fun and a lot easier.

Konrad Gianno, Software Engineer

Source: Google Travel


Calendar shopping for flights just got easier

Let’s say you want to go skiing in Vail, Colorado this winter, but you’re flexible on when you leave and how long you stay. Try our improved Flight Search calendar from any of your devices to help you quickly figure out the best deal. As soon as you start entering your dates, a new, expanded calendar pops up with the lowest fare highlighted for each day. Select your outbound date and prices update instantly for return dates. You can change stops, length of stay, preferred airline or more -- and prices update instantly, without having to do any extra searches!

To see how prices may fluctuate based on the season, holidays or other events, use the lowest fares graph under the calendar. It lets you scroll through future months to quickly and easily compare airfares across dates. Now you can see low-fare flight options, even if your travel dates are far in the future.


For your Vail trip, as you enter your origin and destination cities, a calendar pops up with lowest fares for each day. If you quickly scan the lowest fares graph below, you’ll see that March is the least expensive time to travel. Select your outbound and return dates. Try restricting the results to non-stop flights and compare the price difference for a 3, 4 or 5 day trip. Now you can make your final selections and book your flight, feeling confident you’ve found the best option for your trip.

We hope the changes we’ve made will help you save time and money! If you haven’t already done so, try our enhanced calendar shopping and lowest fares graph when planning your next trip.

Posted by Rani Manoharan, UI designer, travel

Source: Google Travel


Take off for the holidays with Google Street View

(Cross-posted on the Google Maps blog)

Whether it’s touring the canals of Venice, swimming with the seals in the Galapagos or climbing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Street View has taken you to some of the most beautiful and exciting places around the world. Now, in addition to scoping out your destination, Street View can help you cut down the stress of traveling by giving you a preview of your journey, too. Our first efforts to map global transit locations include 16 international airports, over 50 train and subway stations, and even a cable car station in Hong Kong.

Here’s an interactive map so you can see the new Street View transit locations worldwide.

Now you can visit the check-in counter of your airline in Madrid, map out the way from baggage claim to the bus at Tokyo International Airport and check out where to pick up your rental car at Eindhoven Airport; you can even scope out your seat on an Emirates flight from Dubai! Or, if you’re planning to take the train, navigate through Waterloo station so you can be one step ahead, whether you’re with a group of friends, family or a baby stroller.

Don’t let travel logistics get you down this holiday season. With Street View, you can see how to get where you’re going faster and easier. Enjoy and safe travels!

Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Google Street View Program Manager

Source: Google Travel